College Tuition

Some of Indiana's state colleges and universities have begun to announce they'll hike tuition next year in excess of the caps advised by Indiana's Higher Education Commission. Jo Ann Gora, president of Ball State University, where a 3.9 percent increase for undergraduates and a 9.1 percent increase for graduate students next year are being proposed, blames an 11 percent cut in state aid over the past 10 years. More tuition revenue, she said, is needed to ensure the quality of Ball State's learning environment.

MICHIGAN CITY -- A candidate for mayor is proposing that casino money be used to pay the college tuition of high school graduates in an attempt to revitalize the community. Bob McKee, a Democrat and city council member, said the goal would be to attract more residents and new businesses. Similar programs are in place in casino areas like Hammond and in Michigan in cities such as New Buffalo and Kalamazoo. "It just hits home on so many fronts," said McKee, who is opposed in the May primary by Ron Meer, John Jones and Joie Winski.

Bill Moor is on vacation. The following column originally ran on March 10, 1996. I am trying to get a handle on tattoos these days. Back in college, we had an older buddy who was one of the Marines' "few good men," and he had an outstanding tattoo on his right forearm. He was big and hairy, and once held a rather annoying guy out a second-floor window by the ankles. His Marine Corps tattoo just made him seem that much tougher. I asked him one evening why he had decided to get a tattoo.

BURTON, Mich. (AP) -- Carole Mansfield can still see the proud, boyish grin on her late husband's face every time he came home with a new prize for the mammoth NASCAR collection that flooded their Burton home. "He'd say, 'This is added to your inheritance,'Ã¦" she said. It turns out Monte Mansfield was right. Sales from some of the most unassuming items in their collection are paying for the college education of their 19-year-old grandson, also named Monte Mansfield.

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. (AP) -- The school district in Southfield is working to guarantee college-tuition assistance to students who need it. Modeled after the Kalamazoo Promise, which provides free tuition to Kalamazoo students, the Southfield Guarantee program would provide a sliding scale of financial aid to help graduates who don't have enough money to cover costs at a four-year Michigan college or university. A $5,000 contribution from an unnamed corporate donor started the education fund, which is to be managed by the Southfield Community Foundation.

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) -- A prosecutor says state officials are covering up a decision to offer convicted killer Nathaniel Abraham taxpayer-paid housing and college tuition now that he has been released from state supervision. Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca told The Detroit News for a story Tuesday that he is baffled that the state Department of Human Services continues to deny it offered Abraham services through a foster care pilot program. "To fabricate a story that he isn't going to get paid services is a misrepresentation of what was actually discussed and offered," Gorcyca said.

Imitation is said to be the sincerest form of flattery. For cities hoping to copy the success of the Kalamazoo Promise, it also represents a sincere desire to build stronger, better communities. As we've said in earlier comments, there's good reason to imitate the Kalamazoo Promise. Launched in 2005, the program does the unthinkable and the incredible by eliminating cost as an impediment to higher education for families with children in Kalamazoo Public Schools. Funded by a group of anonymous benefactors, the Promise pays up to 100 percent of college tuition for any student who graduates from the city's public schools and attends a Michigan public university or community college.

KALAMAZOO (AP) -- About 80 percent of students who received college scholarships under The Kalamazoo Promise program in 2006-07 kept up their grades enough to have their funding renewed this fall. The rest of the scholarship recipients, or 62 of 332 students, received letters that they may not have their scholarships renewed because of poor grades, the Kalamazoo Gazette reported. Scholarship suspension letters went to 44 of 146 students, or 30 percent, of those who attended community college, and 18 of 186, or 10 percent, of those at four-year colleges, said Robert Jorth, the program's administrator.

Indiana's 21st Century Scholars program makes a simple promise: If you avoid drugs, stay out of trouble with the law and graduate from high school with at least a 2.5 grade-point average, the state will pay your college tuition. The promise is working -- for those students who apply. The Indiana Commission for Higher Education says that in 2006, 79 percent of 21st Century Scholars graduated from high school, compared to 59 percent of low-income students as a whole. These students were nearly three times as likely to go to college as other students in the same income bracket.

It's a credit to Indiana University that it has aggressively gotten behind the federal push to improve college students' financial literacy. Systemwide, all incoming freshmen now get a crash course in loans and borrowing. The university is providing clearer information on college costs and annual statements that tell students how much they have borrowed and the terms for repayment. At IUSB, each incoming student also is assigned a financial aid counselor to meet with one-on-one.

Congress has reached a one-year deal to keep interest rates on federal student loans from doubling for millions of Americans. Republicans and Democrats said all along they wanted a deal to happen, and so did we. It would have been arbitrary and unfair to double loan rates all at once, especially with interest rates in the private sector at record lows. This should prompt debate on a critical question, though: Do low-cost, government-guaranteed loans drive tuition and fees higher?

DONALDSON -- Ancilla College will freeze tuition rates through the 2012-2013 academic year. The tuition freeze was approved Monday by the college's board of trustees. The current tuition rate, which will be unchanged for next year, is $455 per credit hour. For the average full-time student who is taking an average course load of 27 hours per year, annual tuition is $12,285. The board's unanimous decision came as part of a larger effort by Ancilla to keep quality education affordable, according to an announcement from the college.

For many parents, financing a child's college education can seem daunting. Even with financial aid, and with the knowledge that education is an investment that pays dividends long into the future, many families believe they simply cannot fit college tuition into their budget. That's why Ivy Tech Community College is working with its K-12 partners throughout Indiana to raise awareness about dual credit. Ivy Tech's dual credit program allows high school juniors and seniors to simultaneously earn both high school credit and college credit.

Dear Annie, My father is a dentist and earns a good living, but he is going after my money. When I graduated from high school, he took the money relatives and friends sent me and kept it for himself. A year later, he and Mom were going through a divorce, and he subpoenaed my work records to find out what I was earning. Their divorce was finally settled, but when Dad found out I was awarded a partial college scholarship of $980, he wanted "his share." Mom and Dad both paid for my college tuition, but I worked hard to earn that small scholarship so I could stand on my own two feet.

Some of Indiana's state colleges and universities have begun to announce they'll hike tuition next year in excess of the caps advised by Indiana's Higher Education Commission. Jo Ann Gora, president of Ball State University, where a 3.9 percent increase for undergraduates and a 9.1 percent increase for graduate students next year are being proposed, blames an 11 percent cut in state aid over the past 10 years. More tuition revenue, she said, is needed to ensure the quality of Ball State's learning environment.

MICHIGAN CITY -- A candidate for mayor is proposing that casino money be used to pay the college tuition of high school graduates in an attempt to revitalize the community. Bob McKee, a Democrat and city council member, said the goal would be to attract more residents and new businesses. Similar programs are in place in casino areas like Hammond and in Michigan in cities such as New Buffalo and Kalamazoo. "It just hits home on so many fronts," said McKee, who is opposed in the May primary by Ron Meer, John Jones and Joie Winski.

Community partnerships, collaboration, communication and critical thinking are common themes in project-based learning, which is also the backbone of the New Tech high school. A New Tech high school would take four years to fully implement, starting with enrollment of 100 students from the Class of 2016 and adding 100 students per subsequent cohorts for a total of 400 students after four years. A minimum of four teachers would be needed to start, adding four more teachers each of the following three years.

BURTON, Mich. (AP) -- Carole Mansfield can still see the proud, boyish grin on her late husband's face every time he came home with a new prize for the mammoth NASCAR collection that flooded their Burton home. "He'd say, 'This is added to your inheritance,'Ã¦" she said. It turns out Monte Mansfield was right. Sales from some of the most unassuming items in their collection are paying for the college education of their 19-year-old grandson, also named Monte Mansfield.